Author Archives: Dreamaticus

Football obsessive forgets his manners (Rousse)

I hadn’t seen SA – a boy I first met aged 7 at primary school – since a school reunion in 2011. I thought that he would have better manners at our surprise meeting than to start the conversation with … Continue reading →

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Jason Isaacs, tattoo artist (Belle)

Jason Isaacs was a local hero on the housing estate. He wore an almost floor length black coat and his frequent mysterious disappearances were the subject of thrilling speculation. When we met on the street, he took me by the … Continue reading →

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Royal family lookalike con (Rousse)

The excitement was raw: every single one of us would have 30 minutes or so to chat with a royal couple! My friend found out first that hers was the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Mine was Diana, Princess of … Continue reading →

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Cabbie bride of Christ (Rousse)

The roads were treacherous so we hired a nun taxi driver to take us over the snowbound hills. She skidded (safely) just a couple of times. The only real inconvenience of travelling with a cabbie bride of Christ were the … Continue reading →

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An icy dip on Christmas Day (Rousse)

So delighted was TPR to be with his entire family again, on arrival at his mother’s house for Christmas he disappeared straightaway into the large cinema room with his sisters. That left me with his step-father to set the table … Continue reading →

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Red and white woodpecker gate-crashes class (Rousse)

I heard a knocking from above, looked up, and saw a beautiful red and white woodpecker tapping on the wooden classroom chandelier. I stopped the class so that we could all take out our phones to photograph the beauty.

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Christmas 2020 in June 2021 (Rousse)

Finally, six months later than anticipated, at the end of June 2021 we were permitted to host our annual Christmas party (2020). But first, I had to remove AD from the kitchen. JS, who knew exactly who he was and … Continue reading →

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An iPhone and an accident on the way to the Isle of Skye (Rousse)

I blame DP of Strathclyde University for the debacle over my iPhone. Under her watchful eye, I plugged it in to charge for ten minutes in the café of the Forth Road Bridge service station. Then we we set off … Continue reading →

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London to Oxford and Oxford to Edinburgh by train (Rousse)

It really was too much to ask my 81 year-old mother to walk all the way from London to Edinburgh, so I suggested that we cut a few miles off the route by taking the train to Oxford. In the … Continue reading →

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A runner and a red, 60-litre, flip-top kitchen bin (Rousse)

Hundreds of faster runners passed me as I headed south along the cycle path. I wished that I could run faster. Perhaps my times would improve if I abandoned carrying the soil-filled, red, 60-litre, flip-top kitchen bin?

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